The Music

Having already served as support act for the likes of Oasis, New Order and The Charlatans, it comes as little surprise that The Music’s eponymously-titled debut album is a straight-down-the-line, no frills batch of vaguely psychedelic indie-dance numbers.

Certainly, done with the appropriate amount of flair and innovation, this had the potential to be an interesting sonic adventure. Unfortunately The Music doesn’t live up to its promise.

First, despite the presence of DJ Shadow/Björk collaborator Jim Abiss at the mixing desk, no amount of slick production can hide the fact that far too many of these songs are threadbare grooves wandering aimlessly in search of a tune.

Secondly, vocalist/guitarist Robert Harvey’s contribution is below par - for the most part he yelps like Liam Gallagher being strangled to death, and lyrically he explores territory that might generously be described as “generic”: “Baby, turn out the light/Tell me your story/Everything’s gonna be alright.” (‘Turn Out The Light’.)

There are fleeting moments of inspiration. ‘Take The Long Road And Walk It’ is a tantalising glimpse of what might have been – a super-funky, Charlatans-like tune brimming over with choppy wah-wah guitar and hissing hi-hat. At the other end of the scale is the embarrassingly naff, self-explanatory ‘Disco’, a turgid dance workout alarmingly reminiscent of those mascots of indie mediocrity, Shed Seven.

Despite a few decent moments, this album largely serves to demonstrate that The Music have a lot of work to do if they are to avoid anything other than fifth-on-bill-at-the-summer festivals indie limbo.